Rupert Sanders Set To Helm ‘Ghost In The Shell’ For DreamWorks

EXCLUSIVE: DreamWorks has made a deal with Snow White And The Huntsman helmer Rupert Sanders to directGhost In The Shell, a live-action film based on the Japanese manga futuristic police thriller that has a new script from William Wheeler. The film is being produced by Avi Arad, Ari Arad and Steven Paul. Fueled by the personal passion of Steven Spielberg, DreamWorks acquired the project several years ago with ambitious plans to shoot it in 3D.

Created by Masamune Shirow, Ghost in the Shell was first published in 1989 by Kodansha, one of the largest publishing companies in Japan. It went on to generate two additional manga editions, three anime film adaptations, an anime TV series and three videogames. DreamWorks released the second anime film.

The story follows the exploits of a member of a covert ops unit of the Japanese National Public Safety Commission that specializes in fighting technology-related crime.

Wheeler scripted Hoax and The Reluctant Fundamentalist and most recently completed the Robert Schwentke-attached serial killer Entering Hades for New Regency as well as Queen of Katwe, a true story about a young female chess prodigy from Africa, which has Reluctant Fundamentalist helmer Mira Nair attached. The UTA/Anonymous Content-repped scribe also scripted Brand, a USA Network project that has Jodie Foster attached to direct.

Can we send an online petition to Steven Spielberg asking him not to touch this project, at...

Sanders has several directing projects percolating, and it isn’t clear which film he’ll helm next. He’s got 90 Church with Universal and producer Joe Roth, an epic about the bloody battles of Napoleon Bonaparte at Warner Bros, and he’s developing Juliet for Sony and New Regency, with Charles Roven producing, as well as the screen adaptation of the Frederick Forsyth thriller The Kill List for producers Steve Schwartz, Paula Mae Schwartz and Nick Wechsler. Sanders is repped by CAA and attorney Carlos Goodman and in the UK by Duncan Heath and Jack Thomas at Independent Talent Group.

43 Comments

Is this guy really that much in demand? He’s done one fairly okay movie, and he banged the star of it, breaking up his marriage and her relationship.

Why are the studios so hot on him?

ironheaded • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

who he is banging obviously does not effect his box office performance!!! he delivers on a the bottom line money!!! and hollywood is made up of “FOR PROFIT COMPANIES” and that’s all that matters
and should matter!

Steve • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

It was a 200+ million movie that didn’t crack 400 worldwide. I don’t think he’s worth the baggage.

g • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

agree, although i always found it amazing the 20 year old got killed in the press but the married dude old enough to be her father & who had never directed a movie before (can’t imagine acting so unprofessional after being given the chance on having a first film be a big studio one) skated on by like a bird.

but dude is a third rate director. people can armchair it all they want, but the main problem the top critics had with the one lousy film he did was with the direction. horrible, horrible direction. it looked pretty, that’s about all i can say. none of these films have even panned out yet, so this is kind of pointless because who knows if they will.

Steve • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

She got slammed because my mom doesn’t know who Rupert Sanders is, but she knows who Stewart is, so E! has to run with that.

EM • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

Double standards.

Bort • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

Yeah, this guy is an arrogant scumbag.

Mystery Exec • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

Rupert might be attached to 12 movies at this point… why even announce them anymore?

Your head likes my Nine Iron!!! • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

Seriously, this is horrible news for any fan of the film.

HappyDance • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

Don’t panic just yet, plenty of these big features change directors as the project gets bigger. When a bigger director is interested then they get priority, this guy could end up replaced by JJ or Guillermo; they’ll call it “scheduling conflicts”.

[a] proxy • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

Anime/Manga are so hard to adapt to the big screen and this one is no different. Good luck buddy.

cloudsora • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

Not really, we just try to localize it or change it and ruin the ever living shit out of it. Look at all the Live Action Adaptations that changed very little, they were great.

fluffo • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

It’ll be bunk. They’ll cast some chick from the CW and it’ll be all downhill from there.

psychic banana • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

Paging Kristen Kreuk!

Fred • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

Three words: Dragon Ball Z

Gimme Wang • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

Chloe (Bennet) Wang would be better for the role, as she’s already a fanboy fave. Although, I agree, the film will likely suck.

Anonymous • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

It may have been a cartoon but it had a lot of philosophical themes about humanity. The film needs a subtle hand, not this buffoon. Just looking at the team in place, I’d say this will be a pretty generic sci-fi pop corn flick.

Travis Speak • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

Cowboy Bebop has been in development for a decade. Get in line.

GITS is a great story, though.

Jerry • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

This and Akira are perfection. Don’t screw with them! This guy is a 3rd rate director and will screw up GITS

The Laughing Man • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

It seems to me that fans of the anime will likely not check out this film based on the creative. So, that leaves folks who may or may not be aware of the source material and want to check out some cool Sci-Fi. Again, I don’t think most Sci-Fi fans will pay to see this either.

The creatives seem to have a singular vision and probably don’t have a grasp as to why the anime was so successful with that niche audience. Granted, I’m talking out of my ass and haven’t seen the script… But I don’t have high hopes for this one. And that’s a shame.

James • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

Worst news ever… This film will be a failure

DrinkUpThatHatoradeDorks • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

Omg! The masses might learn about a film but I’m gonna hate on Hollywood. Shut up haters. Go jerk off to world of Warcraft and leave the movies to professionals.

definitions • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

wished I didn’t read this.. Its even worse than Micheal Bay screwing up transformers
When your objective is to make money it’s definitely going to be crap

LandoC • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

I they “whitewash” the cast of this movie with an European or an American cast,there will be extreme fan backlash. The ‘Ghost in the Shell’ franchise is a very Japanese centered anime and manga franchise,the series is set in very hard in modern Japanese economic/geo-political customs and culture and a “Westernised” or a “Americanised” version could backfire on this movie’s producers big time.

LandoC • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

*correction-“If” they “whitewash”the cast*

PCMW • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

They ripped off this movie already!! It’s called THE MATRIX!

Gerry the Optimistic Optometrist • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

This can only end badly.

vFunct • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

They already made a live-action Ghost in the Shell movie. It’s called The Matrix.

Seriously, the Wachowski bros actually showed the producers Ghost in the Shell, and actually told them they want to make live action version of it.

Actually, The Matrix trilogy was every famous anime rolled into one. There are scenes in it taken directly from Akira, Dragaonball Z, Neon Genesis, and more.

Vinny • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

They will dumb it down for high school kids with T and A and bombs and bullets. And probably that stupid bass sound they put in movies today that wows kids in high school to see the movie. Will they show the Major as a intelligent, complex mentally F’d up character? No, why make a movie for the fan base.

MARK GEORGEFF • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

ANY live action adapt of GITS and other great animae will simply bomb. Burn down. While diff. medium. Accept that HWD and make decent movies for once. Other filmers in other countries are doing it and CHINA sure as hell is not afraid of you.

merrrrraanga • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

great… when’s the Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki movie!?!

Rob Roy • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

I can understand that many of you who love the original manga are panicking. BUT, look at who the main producer is. Avi Arad. Arad was a major stake holder in Marvel Comics, and a very important player in the success of US super hero movies. I know Ghost in The Shell is different than Spiderman or Ironman, BUT Avi Arad seems to understand comics, and how to make them work on the big screen. I would say that he has a better chance than most other producers to make this work. I am not so sure about the directo either, but the writer has turned out very cerebral scripts, just watch the The Reluctant Fundamentalist and I think you know what I mean.

internetlion • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

Oh fer crying out loud — are they serious?? Rupert Sanders is such a gadawful director. Anyone who’s seen Snow White can attest to that. That film was so disjointed and so poorly directed it should’ve ended his career. I can’t understand why this buffoon is still getting directing jobs.

GITS is a classic. Easy to understand why Spielberg is so gungho about it. But c’mon Steven … Sanders?? GITS can be a long-term blockbuster film franchise for any studio, but it needs to be given to a director with real vision and imagination — Peter Jackson, Del Toro, Alfonso Cuaron. Were James Cameron, Joss Whedon, The Wachowskis or Christopher Nolan not available??

Katsuhiro Otomo Jr • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

Good point, but Avi Arad/Marvel never really used big name directors.

internetlion • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

Not true. Marvel’s used Joss Whedon and Kenneth Branagh, hello?

Anonymous • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

Sort of true. Kenneth Branagh was doing a comeback in all aspects of his work (acting, stage and directing). Joss Whedon was a big names with those of us that enjoy comics, Buffy and Sci-Fi, but he was not on the same level as Peter Jackson, Del Toro, James Cameron or Christopher Nolan.

Nolan already has a relationship with Warner (DC) and VERY unlikely to get in bed with a Marvel guy, James Cameron does “his own movies” and not really a work for hire type of director (and busy in NZ preparing for 3 new Avatar films), Peter Jackson is busy with post-production of the last Hobit film and has Tintin II after that.

Look at what Jon Favreau had done before Iron Man: Zathura: A Space Adventure and Elf!!!!!!!!! Marc Webb who directed The Amazing Spiderman had (500) Days of Summer and some TV-episodes under his belt. I am not saying you have to LOVE the choice of director, but look at Avi Arads track record…

e • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

This is going to be great because the live action “Akira” was sooo successful.
Wait.

Uber Critic • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

His new film, yet another excuse for the casting couch. Let’s see what actress he is planning to cast, so he can get her in bed??? BTW, Ghost In The Shell was one big so what fest. It was a movie in search of a soul and a real plot.

Ras the Exhorter • on Jan 24, 2014 4:12 pm

Steven Paul is a thief and creatively bankrupt and the Arads continue to murder comic & manga-based properties.

Like Akira, it’ll be stripped of any of the philosophy that makes the manga compelling and resonate